Château Mouton Rothschild was the last estate to join the prestigious list of Pauillac First Growths. It invented the artist label, commissioning a different artist for each vintage. Among them were Salvador Dalí (1958), Joan Miró (1969), Pablo Picasso (1973), Andy Warhol (1975), Francis Bacon (1990) and Antoni Tàpies (1995). The 1855 Official Classification of Bordeaux Wines did not rank the wine as a Premier Cru, possibly because an Englishman had bought the vineyard at the time. It did gain that ranking later, in the 1973 revision.
The Château Mouton Rothschild vineyard covers 90 hectares north-west of Bordeaux, on the edge of the Médoc peninsula, where the Romans were already growing vines. The area enjoys the benefits of an oceanic climate while being sheltered from its extremes. The plots have gentle slopes that aid drainage, and the soils, gravel, stones, and pebbles mixed with clay and sand, are ideal for vines, producing elegant, powerful, richly tannic, long-lived wines.
